Influences of cosmic radiation, artificial radioactivity and aerosol concentration upon the fair-weather atmospheric electric field in Lisbon (1955–1991)

Abstract

The atmospheric electric field is influenced by cosmic radiation, radioactivity and aerosols. In this work we investigate the existence of: (i) correlations between relative anomalies of annual values of atmospheric electric field and cosmic radiation intensity, artificial radioactivity and aerosol concentration; (ii) seasonal correlations between relative anomalies of the atmospheric electric field and cosmic radiation intensity. We used data of the electric field strength recorded at the Portela meteorological station (Lisbon) in the period 1955-1991. We found statistically significant inverse correlations between atmospheric electric field and cosmic radiation in the period 1967-1991. We also found that the influence of cosmic radiation on the atmospheric electric field is strong in wintertime and very weak in summertime. The GCR-CN-CCNCloud Hypothesis and the wintertime reduced boundary layer convection are analyzed as possible explanations for this difference. D

Transport of the smoke plume from Chiado’s fire in Lisbon (Portugal) sensed by atmospheric electric field measurements

“…The analogue records of the electrograph were digitalized afterwards (Serrano 2010). Further details on the dataset can be found in Serrano et al (2006) and Silva et al (2014). The hourly values of PG measured during 1988 are presented in Fig.…”

“…1) to study the effect of smoke particles on PG; as such, measurements were made in the suburbs of Lisbon at Portela meteorological station (Serrano et al 2006;Silva et al 2014). Chiado's fire was considered the most significant hazard to have occurred in Lisbon city centre since the 1755 earthquake.…”

Weather Regulated Cattle Behaviour on Rangeland

“…In the atmosphere positive and negative ions are both present, but radioactive minerals (radium, uranium), radioactive gases (e.g. radon), cosmic rays, lightning, wildfire and high voltage discharge may change their ratio (Wahlin, 1989;Lee, 1993;Cote, 2003;Komov, 2003;Serrano et al, 2006). Evaporating water produces negative ions, in contrast to the ionizing radiation which, interacting with air components, mostly produces positively charged particles.…”

Atmospheric electrical field decrease during the <i>M = 4.1</i> Sousel earthquake (Portugal)

“…2. The decrease lasted for nearly 4 days, during which the VAE did not exceed 20 V m −1 , a value much smaller than the typical mean daily fair-weather VAE that ranges from 70 V m −1 to 110 V m −1 (Serrano et al, 2006). Moreover, the Sousel earthquake occurred approximately 3 days after the commencement of the VAE decrease.…”